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Download Our Trail Guide WAGNER NATURAL AREA A GUIDE TO SOME OF ITS NATURAL FEATURES WEBSITE: www.wagnerfen.ca MARL POND TRAIL Keep track of what you see along the trail, using the checklist on pages 16 and 17 The Marl Pond Trail (a 1.5 km looped trail) provides an overview of some of Wagner’s varied habitats, including its fens. Find additonal informaton on the Wagner website: htp://www.wagnerfen.ca 2 Why is an Alberta Provincial Natural Area here? A feature of Wagner Natural Area is its fens. Fens are a special type of wet- land in which peat (undecomposed plant remains) has formed. The fens may be open, with islands of low vegetaton lying within shallow, whitsh pools known as marl ponds, or they may be forested with coniferous trees (spruce and tamarack). Both types of fens exist in this area. In Wagner groundwater, carried in underground layers of sand and gravel called aquifers, discharges at the surface as springs. The spring water fows overland down a gentle slope to the north. Groundwater is afected by surrounding land and water uses. Roads, urban or industrial development all alter the ground surface over which precipitaton infltrates the soil to replenish the aquifer. Wells or pumping can directly reduce the amount of water in the aquifer. Because water is the lifeblood of Wagner’s fens, to preserve the Natural Area we must not only protect its land base, but also its water supply. History of Wagner Natural Area Once owned by local farmer William Wagner and popularly known as Wagner Bog, the original half secton of land was purchased by the Alberta government and other interested partes in 1971 to protect its outstanding natural features. It ofcially became Wagner Natural Area in 1975. Subsequent land purchases by the Alberta government and the Nature Conservancy of Canada have extended the protected area to 251 hectares (620 acres) covering a range of vegetaton communites. Since 1983 it has been managed by a volunteer steward group, the Wagner Natural Area Society, which has a recreatonal lease on the land. The Society’s objectves are to preserve the Natural Area’s ecological integrity, promote its appreciaton by the public, and maintain it as a resource for nature educaton and research. Please remember: 1. Only pedestrian use is permited in the Natural Area. 2. Keep to the trail; trampling of the trail will destroy the surrounding vegetaton. 3. Do not damage, collect or remove any specimens from the Natural Area. 4. Do not leave liter; take it home with you. 5. Keep dogs on a leash and please pick up afer your dogs. 6. Lightng fres, cutng trees and camping are forbidden in the Natural Area. 3 1 Centre Field POST Enter the Wagner Natural Area through the gate and follow the trail past the bulletn board to the large open feld, passing by the picnic shelter on your right and the toilets on your lef. The Natural Area has several high points, or upland areas, where the trees were cleared several decades ago for farming. Now willows and poplars are gradually reclaiming this feld along the edges. Eventually it will return to forest, by the process of succession. In early spring or fall look for low mounds of fresh soil in the grass. These are made by northern pocket gophers, rodents which live in underground tunnels and chambers. They eat herbaceous plants, stufng them with their forepaws into their fur-lined cheek pouches or “pockets” – hence their name. They play an important part in grassland ecology by keeping the soil open and incorporatng humus at lower levels in the soil. The trail crosses the feld heading south. The vegetaton here is chiefy smooth brome grass, Kentucky bluegrass, and alfalfa, all non-natve species originally sown for hay. In spring and summer, watch for buterfies, moths and dragonfies as you cross this feld. The silvery-blue buterfy is partcularly common during June and early July. 4 2 Poplar Grove POST The deciduous trees in this area are a mixture of balsam and aspen poplars. Both of these tree species produce upright shoots from their roots known as suckers. They can colonize open ground quickly by means of these suckers. The smaller trees are sucker shoots and may stll be connected underground to the taller trees, their genetcally identcal parents. 3 Aspen, Red-osier Dogwood and Nettles POST Look to your lef (north) to see a small forest of tall aspen trees. Such aspen groves occur on the uplands in the Natural Area. Willows, too, proliferate in more open, but moist, areas. The red-stemmed shrubs along the trail are red-osier dogwood, a favourite food of white-tailed deer and moose in this part of the world. Many twigs have had their tps biten of by these ungulates, leaving a slantng or jagged cut, and causing the shrubs to branch repeatedly. Common, or stnging, netle plants are abundant here. Avoid brushing your bare skin against the leaves. The toothed edges on the leaves bear stnging hairs that break on contact, releasing histamines that cause an irritaton that can last for several hours. Common netle occurs in rich, moist, disturbed, ofen shady areas. 5 4 Willow Carr (Shrubland) with Lichens POST You can tell the ground is weter here than in the feld, because the vegetaton has changed. Moisture-loving plants, including willows, gooseberries and currants, wild raspberry, bracted honeysuckle, wild mint, hemp-netle and tall sedges grow here. Do you see a very old, leaning willow covered with the pale green plaques of lichens? Although most of these willows are in a decline, some can stll produce new life from shoots growing out of old trunks. Plant communites change over tme. This area may become drier and more open, depending on the availability of water. 5 Alaskan Birch POST Notce the dead Alaskan birch tree in front of you, with only part of its trunk remaining. It is known as a “snag”. Birches are pioneering trees, spreading by winged seeds and colonizing moist open ground, such as ofen occurs at the edge of peatlands. As a pioneer, like aspen, it is relatvely short-lived (about 100 years). However, in this mature locaton, young trees are growing up to replace the old, dying or dead ones. 6 6 HummocKs and Hollows POST The trail now passes through a forest community of coniferous trees (white spruce, tamarack) and Alaskan birch. Note the uneven ground surface: it is a mixture of hummocks and hollows. Such hummocky ground is likely the result of the alternate freezing and thawing of the waterlogged soil here. The hummocks around the tree roots provide good underground homes and seed caches for red squirrels. In May and June, the wet hollows are golden with marsh marigolds. These hollows make excellent nurseries for mosquitoes! In winter, they retain snow and may provide shelter for snowshoe hares. 7 Annual Growth Rings POST The age of a tree can be determined by countng the number of rings seen in a cross-secton of the tree trunk taken at stump height – about 30 cm of the ground. The distance between each ring equals the increase in trunk girth made in one growing season. Wide rings indicate seasons with good growing conditons; narrow ones, poor growing seasons. Can you make a rough estmate of how old this tree in front of you was when it was felled? 7 8 Windfallen White Spruce POST Uprooted trees, by creatng openings in forests, can initate a change in plant compositon. White spruce has a shallow root system and so is very susceptble to uprootng by wind, especially when it has grown tall. Shallow roots are an advantage in wet or waterlogged soils, where oxygen is present only in the upper layers. Standing dead trees (snags) and fallen trees (logs) contnue to provide food and shelter for insects and various forms of wildlife. Rufed grouse use logs for their drumming courtship behaviour. When fallen trees decay, usually with the aid of decomposing fungi, nutrients are recycled to the soil. With more light, shade-intolerant plants are then able to invade, increasing the diversity of the area. *See Posts 10 and 20 for diferences between white spruce and black spruce present in the Natural Area. White spruce Black spruce 9 Wild Sarsaparilla POST Wild sarsaparilla is a common understory herb of woodlands in the Edmonton area and indeed throughout the boreal forest region. When its large, divided leaves frst begin to unfold, they are wrinkled and purplish-red. As the plant matures, the leaves expand and become smooth and green. In the fall they turn golden yellow. Why might large, thin leaves be an advantage in a forest habitat? 8 Black Spruce, Tamarack, 10 Labrador Tea and POST Feathermoss Forest In this relatvely dense and uniform forest, white spruce is outnumbered by black spruce trees, which are characteristc of muskegs (treed bogs). Tamarack trees are also present. Few plants can grow in the low light and acidic conditons. Labrador tea and mosses are the exceptons. Mosses make up much of the ground cover in northern forests. Three common mosses, known as feathermosses (stair-step moss, big red stem and knight’s plume) form an extensive ground cover in these black spruce forests. Here they contribute to peat formaton, but they can also be abundant in drier coniferous woods. During drought, mosses dry and become dormant but, afer absorbing water directly from precipitaton, they swell and resume photosynthesis and growth. Mosses play an important role in the ecology of woodlands. *These moss illustratons courtesy of S.J.
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